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Level of measurement or scale of measure is a classification that describes the nature of information within the values assigned to variables. [1] Psychologist Stanley Smith Stevens developed the best-known classification with four levels, or scales, of measurement: nominal , ordinal , interval , and ratio .
Mathematics in psychology is used extensively roughly in two areas: one is the mathematical modeling of psychological theories and experimental phenomena, which leads to mathematical psychology; the other is the statistical approach of quantitative measurement practices in psychology, which leads to psychometrics. [2]
Validity of a scale or test is ability of the instrument to measure what it purports to measure. [3] Construct validity, Content Validity, and Criterion Validity are types of validity. Construct validity is estimated by convergent and discriminant validity and factor analysis.
Measurement in psychology and physics are in no sense different. Physicists can measure when they can find the operations by which they may meet the necessary criteria; psychologists have to do the same. They need not worry about the mysterious differences between the meaning of measurement in the two sciences (Reese, 1943, p. 49). [9]
The non-verbal performance scale was also a critical difference from the Binet scale. The earlier Binet scale had been persistently and consistently criticized for its emphasis on language and verbal skills. [6] Wechsler designed an entire scale that allowed the measurement of non-verbal intelligence. This became known as a performance scale.
Symptom and attitude tests are more often called scales. A useful psychological test/scale must be both valid, i.e., show evidence that the test or scale measures what it is purported to measure, [1] [4]) and reliable, i.e., show evidence of consistency across items and raters and over time, etc.
Pintner commented that psychologists of his era, including Terman, went about "the measurement of an individual's general ability without waiting for an adequate psychological definition." [ 60 ] Pintner retained these terms in the 1931 second edition of his book.
Intelligence testing has long been an important branch of quantitative psychology. The nineteenth-century English statistician Francis Galton, a pioneer in psychometrics, was the first to create a standardized test of intelligence, and he was among the first to apply statistical methods to the study of human differences and their inheritance.